S20.E04: Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders, Jude Law, Catherine Tate, Kings Of Leon

[Athena]

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Among the guests on Graham's sofa tonight: Hollywood great Tom Cruise, starring in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, with his co-star Cobie Smulders; Brit star Jude Law, appearing in the new series The Young Pope; comedian and actress Catherine Tate; and supergroup Kings Of Leon, performing new single Waste a Moment.

[Corgi-ears]

Sweet Jesus. From the guests to the (lack of) banter to the musical act to the red chairees, that was perhaps the most boring episode in recent memory. The sole highlight was Jude Law's hairdon't: I guess that's one way of leaning into your widow's peak?

[MissLucas]

I did not find it boring. I loved Catherine Tate's bit, if I lived in the UK I'd try to get to her show. And the Young Pope sounds at least intriguing. Cruise and Smolders were smooth and charming (there have been other guests recently who did not manage those basic couch requirements quite as well). Sure there were no outrageous shenanigans but everybody seems to have felt at ease - something I missed from the first two shows (last week was better).

[attica]

I had been thinking (not that it's taken up that much room in my brain, tbh) that the Young Pope was a biopic of the current dude's youth. So I guess I'm corrected! But sheesh, if you're going fictional with a hip young American pope, couldn't you update the white dress and capelet? To be safe, I guess I'll go back to having it not take up too much room in my brain.

Cruise is starting to scare me. He's just so uncanny valley. And every story he tells is incredible -- that is to say, I literally don't believe them, for however much he's all 'oh, the training was so hard, I'm sure you've done it too, and now I never need to breathe again, but that's just all in a day's work! Right, co-star brought on to sit next to me and pretend that I'm a human man?'

Catherine Tate will always be The Best Companion to me. Donna was the shiznit.

[dubbel zout]

 I like that Smulders wasn't as fawning of Cruise as some of his other costars have been on the couch. I could have done without the reaction shots of Cruise. He's not new to the game; he won't get caught picking his nose or anything.

Was anyone else put off by Cruise's remark that he and the team behind The Last Samurai were responsible for teaching the Japanese their own history? I get what he was trying to say, but it was very poorly expressed.

As always, Graham does a nice job of making sure everyone gets their moment, even if he favored Cruise.

[FormerMod-a1]

4 hours ago, attica said:

Cruise is starting to scare me. He's just so uncanny valley

Yes!  I was so distracted by his cheeks and teeth.  Something was just 'off'.

27 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

Was anyone else put off by Cruise's remark that he and the team behind The Last Samurai were responsible for teaching the Japanese their own history? I get what he was trying to say, but it was very poorly expressed.

Yes! (again)  I thought to myself, "Really?  Some white actor helped the Japanese rediscover their history?  And now it's being taught in schools?  Ok then."

[movingtargetgal]

I don't know if it the Scientology or what, but Tom Cruise is socially awkward and tries too hard.

[Mumbles]

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Cruise is starting to scare me. He's just so uncanny valley. And every story he tells is incredible -- that is to say, I literally don't believe them, for however much he's all 'oh, the training was so hard, I'm sure you've done it too, and now I never need to breathe again, but that's just all in a day's work! Right, co-star brought on to sit next to me and pretend that I'm a human man?'

The claim about him holding his breath for 6.5 minutes underwater is simply impossible to believe. I suspect if this were a few years ago, he'd attribute the ability to Scientology. He was always trying to credit Scientology for crazy things back in the day. "I haven't had a cold in 17 years because of Scientology" e.g.

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I don't know if it the Scientology or what, but Tom Cruise is socially awkward and tries too hard.

Oh man, watch his reactions to the other folks' stories. They are amusing and pleasant and worth a chuckle, but he throws his head back and laughs like it is the funniest thing ever.

"The Young Pope" sounds very interesting.

[fastiller]

On 10/30/2016 at 0:50 PM, attica said:

Cruise is starting to scare me. He's just so uncanny valley. And every story he tells is incredible -- that is to say, I literally don't believe them, for however much he's all 'oh, the training was so hard, I'm sure you've done it too, and now I never need to breathe again, but that's just all in a day's work! Right, co-star brought on to sit next to me and pretend that I'm a human man?'

 

 

9 hours ago, Mumbles said:

The claim about him holding his breath for 6.5 minutes underwater is simply impossible to believe. I suspect if this were a few years ago, he'd attribute the ability to Scientology. He was always trying to credit Scientology for crazy things back in the day. "I haven't had a cold in 17 years because of Scientology" e.g.

Oh man, watch his reactions to the other folks' stories. They are amusing and pleasant and worth a chuckle, but he throws his head back and laughs like it is the funniest thing ever.

"The Young Pope" sounds very interesting.

I agree about his reactions to other folks' stories.  He's just always so "on" - other people are similarly always "on" - Rebel Wilson, Taylor Swift.  Nothing ever seems natural in their interactions.  Cruises's open-mouthed look of amusement is an example.

As to his holding his breath for 6.5 minutes (or being able to do so): perhaps he did it once, had dangerously low levels of oxygen to his brain and brain damage ensued, thus his current state (see points above)?

[Mumbles]

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He's just always so "on" - other people are similarly always "on" - Rebel Wilson, Taylor Swift. 

Agreed on all three. I would go so far to say that his version of "on" is less obnoxious than those other two. His "on" at least is gracious to other guests. Taylor's "oh gosh golly" crap and Rebel's sneery fake-boredom are about themselves.

[attica]

Aw, Taylor will always get props from me for smacking back John Cleese's troglodytery. Little enough of that in show biz; I'm delighted when I see some.

[Mumbles]

Classic YMMV - I actually enjoyed John Cleese not buying Taylor's wide-eyed shtick. I'm surprised she didn't write a song about the mean old tall man. But again, different strokes for different folks.

[dusang]

This was a particularly cringey appearance by TC (what is up with his hair right now?) but I honestly think he's a really nice guy who's being used by a cult -- he's been surrounded by crazy people for over 20 years and they feed his crazy.  I just feel bad for him.

There are many things to dislike about Taylor Swift but I haven't seen a single interview with John Cleese where he didn't come across as a sexist snob, so Taylor shutting him down gets nothing but applause from me.

[peeayebee]

On 10/30/2016 at 2:06 PM, dubbel zout said:

 Was anyone else put off by Cruise's remark that he and the team behind The Last Samurai were responsible for teaching the Japanese their own history? I get what he was trying to say, but it was very poorly expressed.

I missed his saying that. Either someone on the room with me or someone on the show with him spoke, or maybe the audience was applauding at that moment.

I'm never in favor of seeing TC on talk shows, but he does pretty well on Graham Norton because Graham is just that good. My favorite part of the show was when Graham brought up Tom's foot injury, and Tom said something like, "That's right." And that was it. Graham good-naturedly then explained to Tom that he was to provide the anecdote.

I believe the stories about Tom's film-making stunts and so forth. He just seems preternaturally gifted in pushing himself to do whatever it takes. It's the one thing I admire about him.

I liked the rest of the couch, too. Everyone had his or her moments.

[fastiller]

On 10/30/2016 at 5:06 PM, dubbel zout said:

Was anyone else put off by Cruise's remark that he and the team behind The Last Samurai were responsible for teaching the Japanese their own history? I get what he was trying to say, but it was very poorly expressed.

 

I was - to sort of borrow & revise a term, it sounded to me as if The Last Samurai was white-splaining Japanese culture to the Japanese.

[theatremouse]

It sounded like Tom Cruise was white-splaining that The Last Samurai white-splained Japanese culture to the Japanese.

[SmithW6079]

I couldn't even watch all the way through. One of the things I like about Graham is that he's respectful of the celebrities he has on without being sycophantic, but oh my god, his head was so far up Tom Cruise's ass, it was vomit-inducing.

I liked Cobie Smulders, and I'm glad I watched it long enough to see Jude Law's new series (which looks interesting), but I couldn't take anymore of Graham's fangirling Tom. I also enjoyed Catherine Tate's bits. 

[Bruinsfan]

I suppose holding one's breath for 6+ minutes is possible, that's a fraction of the world record. But taken with stories of Cruise saving children from fires, hanging from planes, and other assorted borderline superpower PR claptrap, I'm left skeptical. I'd believe it if it were Corin Nemec relating the anecdote (apparently he can hold his breath a freakishly long time, and once had stunt coordinators worried on a big underwater stunt because he wasn't coming up for air).